REMEMBERING SANT KABIR
Today (22 June 2024) is being celebrated as the birth
anniversary of the mystic poet Sant Kabir who was born in1398 in Varanasi and died at
the age of 120 in Maghar (Uttar Pradesh).
He was an abandoned child, picked up and adopted as his own by a Muslim weaver and
named as Kabir.
After some struggle because of being a Muslim, he won the
spiritual mentorship of great Vaishnava saint Ramananda.
Kabir believed that God is one and is called by different names
such as “Ishwar”, “Allah” etc.
He advocated Hindu Muslim Unity. His emphasis was on devotion
to God and Truth. He had no faith in religious rituals and pilgrimages.
He believed in brotherhood of man and abstained from caste
distinctions. Salvation, according to him, could be achieved only through good
and righteous deeds.
Kabir regarded the guru, the spiritual teacher, as the source
of all wisdom. His logic was : “If Hari becomes angry, there still is some
chance of not being adversely affected; but if the Guru gets angry, then there
is no chance whatever.”
Kabir’s
teachings are available in his poetry. Here are two quotations:
1.The Yogi dyes his garments, instead
of dyeing his mind in the colours of love. He sits within the temple of the
Lord, leaving Brahma to worship a stone.
2. Set not thy heart on the worship of other
gods, there is no worth in the worship of other masters. Thus thou shalt never
find the Beloved.
Finally, a partial English translation
of Kabir’s: JAB MAIN BHULA RE BHAI, by one of the greatest Indian mystics OSHO
(1931-1990):
I do not ring the temple bell : I do not set
the idol on its throne: I do not worship the image with flowers. It is not the
austerities that mortify the flesh which are pleasing to the Lord. When you
leave off your clothes and kill your senses, you do not please the Lord: The
man who is kind and who practices righteousness, who remains passive amidst the
affairs of the world, who considers all creatures on earth as his own self, he
attains the Immortal Being, the true God
is ever with him. Kabir says:’He attains the true Name whose words are pure,
and who is free from pride and conceit.’
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G.R.Kanwal
22 June 2024
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